Many of you may have seen a new advertisement on REOPro for Bridge Asset Servicing Network and their claim to GUARANTEE LISTINGS. Obviously, this intrigued me and I wanted to learn more about this company and see just exactly what they were all about.
After some initial contacts, I was able to send over a list of questions I had for them and I am pleased to say, they responded. Below you can read those questions and determine for yourself if you want to do business with them.
I have to disclose to you that I was so impressed with their responses and with my conversations over the phone with their leadership, Steve McCormick and Angelique Norton that I completed the application and joined.
Question # 1: What is Bridge Asset Servicing Network?
Answer #1: Bridge is a single source asset servicing company….
Question # 2: What exactly do you mean you can guarantee listings?
Answer #2: ….We want to be different. With our guarantee, we are trying to put the agents at ease and affirm that we will follow through and will provide product. If your combined commission does not cover your first year annual membership cost, then 50% of those fees will be reimbursed to you. That of course does not apply to an agent that declines properties assigned to them.
Question # 3: Do I have to sign up for Equator or RES.NET?
Answer # 3: No, Bridge has its own system and that is why we require all agents that wish to work with us to attend our seminar to receive training.
Question # 4: Do you offer Training?
Answer # 4: Yes, we require that all agents come to our seminar and participate in future training….
Question # 5: I see you have a conference coming up, how much is it to go?
Answer # 5: The conference is $495.00 if paid by May 15th. After which, the cost will be $695.00 and $795.00 at the door.
Question # 6: Why would someone want to attend your conference?
Answer # 6: The conference like all education events is a key opportunity to stay current with best practices and to network with your fellow professionals. The key reason to come is if you don’t, you ca not join the network and receive any listings as you will be unfamiliar with our forms, computer system and expectations. …we want everyone to be successful and fully understand where we all stand.
Question # 7: Do I have to sign up for Equator or RES.NET?
Answer #7: No, Bridge has its own systems and that is why we require all agents that wish to work with us to attend our seminar to receive training.
Question #8: Do I need any special certification or designation?
Answer #8: No, we don’t currently require any special designation but we do look favorably on those who have made the investment in themselves and their career to get default service certified. We will ask our members to stay current with industry standards and move toward certification in their area of expertise.
Question #9: What is the specific type of agent you are looking for?
Answer #9: We are looking for agents that like us and want to do things the right way. We want people who are dedicated and show integrity in the way they do their business, individuals that want to give back to our industry and their communities. This business is not just about making money but about improving the areas in which we work and profit. We desire to remove the blight that an REO can cause on a community and replace it with a home that is at or above the community standard filled with families that will function in that community.
Question # 10: Do I need my own money to float my listings and pay for property preservation?
Answer #10: No, we believe that this is an unfair burden to place on the real estate professional and as such, we work with contractors that can carry the rehab costs and Bridge Asset Servicing reimburses utilities etc…. on a monthly basis.
Question # 11: What is the referral fee?
Answer # 11: There are no referral fees, we believe that you earn those commissions and that it is yours alone.
Comments
Most REO Agents belong to several outsourcing companies - some pay $125 per transaction, some pay for zip codes, some pay referral fees, some $250 travel to an event to get certified and end up doing hundreds of BPOs and never get a listing and some pay $120 to provide a Mod service to end up doing a lot of busy work and when that company opens their REO service they select a few hand pick agents who have yet to see property. I like that you broke down the numbers: the conference is $495.00, you have a one time activation and office fee = $595 that would be for the limitted regional agents we are bringing on board (approximately 250) and the you have a monthly admin fee of $125. No transaction fee, no referral fee - your commission is yours. OH, that's right I forgot if we do not give you enough properties to recoup your fees by the end of the year, we will reimburse half your fees - if we don't give you any properties at all we will reimburse all your member and monthly fees.
Now, it seems you had an issue with ABS and I am sorry to hear that - I hope you get paid by them. But we are nothing like that. I will mention that we are not looking for a lot of agents and we're not for everyone - howevr, for the people who have signed up, you will be meeting all the officers. Your questions are great and I look forward to addressing them as I have a chance. Have a great weekend.
Monthly $125.oo .... (that;s all they are charging)..... BPO's... $30-55...
Realtors are so stressed out that forgot to add....?????
How many companies have you paid ... yeah, as ABS - an still waiting to be paid?
I want ed to let all of you that are attending that I am hosting a cocktail party for all those flying in the night of June 8 at the hotel - 8:30 PM - Please let me know if you are coming in on the 8th so I can leave your VIP invite at the front desk. - See you soon.
I wanted to address Dawn's questionsIt sounds like they want to use agents as their investor’s bird dogs for one part of their business. Not so we work very well with our investors, banks and hedge funds - but one of our new development has been to handle a large portfolio of construction default. A few of the agents we are now working with identified projects in their community they would like to see finish and have brought them to our attention to see if we could speak to the particular bank - that was all we were speaking about in regards to involving agents. I think Jesse gave a perfect example in his question on the Blog Radio.
What does the agent get back in return for this? The agent will be listing the project and making a great deal of commission.
HUD will be at their training conference. I guess I don’t get that. If your broker has a NAID number than any of their agents can market HUD listings as their own. HUD has no exclusive listings. Is Bridge considering HUD listings as part of the their guarantee listings? Absolutely not any listings you rec from Bridge will be YOUR EXCLUSIVE listing.When I look at the schedule for the conference there isn’t anything about training the agent to learn their systems or processes . The schedule is below. I think they need to be specific on what they're going to train agents to do. It looks like a general information conference to me not a training conference.
I apologize I guess we should have been clear as the entire conference is about training - As many of you know, Marla Webb does work with HUD and FDIC, she is also the owner of Cambrien Asset Manager and a great support of Bridge ASN - she has graciously accepted this engaement for several reasons: To bring you the latest news on government listings and to speak to several brokers as she searches for new LLBs for HUD. We welcome her expertise and find that it is an added bonus.
Looks like they offer their own certified program for BPO/Valuation specialist under the about us tab on their web site. Will you be required to get their certification and how much will this cost? There are no hidden cost :
Conference is $495 - Membership Fee is $595. one time fee - not every year and not subject to continued updated certification. Monthly Fee = $125 not per transaction or adjusted in any way - that is it. Of course if you have designations and certification from other platforms, that would be great.
Do they Guarantee the monthly dues will not increase for the next two years or more? ABSOLUTELY - NO FEES WILL INCREASE
I guess it would be prudent to state that we are not here to get rich over the members or the fees - we gave our agents a goodwill guarantee that was meant to show the agents how much we value them and because we know you all have been nickle and dime to death. To give you a comfort zone - we guaranteed the listings if you don't get the listings to cover you fees for the first year we will reimburse up to half of your money. I know of no other company that stand behind their statements - We want to be transparent!. Bridge is not for everyone and we appreciate the candor - we are looking for a few agents. I know some of you will be attending and look forward to meeting you at Burbank Finally, we wish you all the best and we welcome your questions as they will help us to stay transparent and to learn and improve from you advice and comment.
Angelique Norton, President
Dont take my word for it and I certainly am not a spokes person for them.. But as I think both Angelique and Bobby said, they have several investors who buy and have bought in bulk. On their web page on a tab, it did show a map of the US. I didnt click on it to look at each state. But when you do buy bulk acquisitions these packages include properties from around the nation. From the bulk sales packages I have looked at with other vendors, they were located in a general quadrants of the country where the majority of homes, etc are. However in those bulk packages there were many homes outside of that generalized area. The larger the bulk buy, the more spread out the properties may be? If Bridge ASN continues with their rapid growth and bulk purchases other opportunities, bulk packages, lenders, etc will come to them to move product. My gut feel on it, is that their approach and strategy will continue to increase potential access to more and more properties. Having seen some of these larger portfolios from other bulk vendors, it is a daunting task to go thru each property and know what you have. So I dont know that it is a simple question to answer. On one bulk sale list I saw a year ago, had a 275 single family homes in three states and maybe another 50 homes were in other states around the country. Too much for the group I was working with to figure out. But I believe Bridge has a set framework, experience and infrastructure in place to sift through what they have, know where they want to buy, and will eventually have a much large stake and opportunities around the country. I would e mail them with questions. Angelique and Bobby have been very helpful to me, changed my perception and understanding of Bridge ASN. I am going and would encourage you to drop them an e-mail.
Let us know what you find out.
If they are only taking 250 agents, they are either going to spread very thin over large areas, or Bridge is only going to be working a couple of states. We have more the 5000 agents in the Atlanta area alone working REO's, 250 would not even cover Atlanta very well, much less the whole state.
I just wanted to say thanks to Jesse for all the help he has been to me personally but also to this REO PRO members. The radio blog interview was great, and so are the follow up questions and answers he has provided all of us regarding Bridge. I dont know how you have the time to juggle all of this but I deeply appreciate it.
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